KATY, TX (Covering Katy News)—CenterPoint Energy reports more than 30,000 Katy area residents remained without power at 4 a.m. Friday after a severe storm with heavy winds and drenching rain struck early Thursday night.
Before daybreak, the area around Highway 99, a short distance north of I-10, still had 28,000 homes in the dark. At the storm's height, more than 1 million homes lost power across Harris County, according to CenterPoint's outage tracker.
Katy ISD closed 23 schools due to storm damage.
Rick Bartok
An electric transmission line along Highway 99 at West Road.
The storm's fury was evident in Cypress, where heavy winds ripped apart transmission lines near West and Fry roads.
According to a post on X, Centerpoint's "ability to provide estimated restoration times may be delayed or unavailable" today.
Across the region, at least four people died from the storms, and the Houston Independent School District closed all of its campuses on Friday.
"The initial indications are that we had fallen trees caused two of the fatalities," Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña told Houston Public Media. "One was a crane accident, blown over by the wave of the strong winds."
Keep an eye on CoveringKaty.com, as we may update this story or add additional storm-related coverage.